Fashola denies govt can fix power in six months comment

Nigeria’s power, works and housing minister, Babatunde Fashola, has denied ever saying a serious government would fix power problems within six months.

“You may disagree with me, but I challenge anybody who has an alternative set of facts. We have the video here and we can play what I said and you can listen to it. If you have a different version, bring it out. I challenge you,” Fashola said.

In 2014, prior to 2015 general election which brought current president Muhammadu Buhari to power, Fashola was reported to have made the claim while blaming power challenges in the country to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) 16 years in power.

However, over three years after Buhari’s election as president and Fashola’s appointment as power minister, he said power supply was not government’s responsibility while dispelling the claim.

Fashola, a former Lagos State governor denied the claim at the Nextier Power Dialogue while responding to questions from members of the audience.

After the denial, he challenged participants at the dialogue and members of the public to produce any video evidence where he made such comment.

“I have the video of what I said and where I said it and I think it was in 2014 in the run-off to the election and I was in Lekki, Lagos,” Fashola said.

He recalled that the comment was made during the inauguration of the Lekki Independent Power Project when he was governor of Lagos State.

Fashola said that his statement had to do with the connection of residents of Lekki to the IPP within six months if the state government had received the approval to do so.